iOS 5 reviewed: Notifications, iMessages, and iCloud, oh my!

The long-awaited public release of iOS 5 for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch is …

iOS 5 is now available to the public after having been teased for months. Unlike the last major update to the operating system (iOS 4), we think iOS 5 could be the most significant update to the iDevice line since the rollout of iPhone OS 3 back in 2009. Why do we say that? Simple—because of the sheer number of new and improved features that make the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad more usable than ever.

We're talking significantly revamped notifications, Twitter integration, wireless sync, iCloud, home screen improvements, and more—so many, in fact, that we can't address everything buried within an app or setting in a single review. What we will do, however, is talk about the major updates as well as those tidbits that interest us the most after having used the OS. We did run across a few nitpicks here and there that we hope Apple addresses in future updates. Overall, though, we think it's worth upgrading to iOS 5.

Notifications

The push notifications introduced in iPhone OS 3 (which we'll refer to as iOS 3, for consistency's sake) were helpful at the time, but only because they were better than nothing. The notification system has long been a sticking point for users who were seeing more robust notifications show up on competing platforms—namely, Android. Under iOS 3, every new SMS or push alert showed up as a modal dialog box in the center of the screen, forcing the user to make a decision immediately. The system also offered no way to see multiple notifications at once—and certainly not on the lock screen, which was essentially useless (except as a timekeeping device) until this point.

Now, however, all that has changed. Apple has completely revamped how the OS handles and displays notifications from its own apps as well as from third parties. Three areas are most affected: the settings, the lock screen, and what Apple calls the Notifications Center.

Settings

The notifications settings will tell you most of what you need to know about how they work. The main settings screen lists every app that could send you notifications, and you can control how each app uses them.

A typical app's notification settings, shown on the iPad.

A typical app will let you switch its Notifications Center alerts on or off. You might also have the opportunity to choose how many notifications from that app to show.

The Alert Style settings let you choose how you want each app's notifications to appear—this will be when you're already using the phone and a notification rolls in from the Messages app or a Twitter app, for example. The "Alerts" style is the old notification style, with the item in the center of the screen and buttons for you to acknowledge the notification immediately. The "Banners" style is new—it rolls down a banner from the top of the screen with the relevant information, but goes away automatically after a couple seconds if you don't do anything to acknowledge it. When you do tap to acknowledge the notification, the phone takes you directly to the app in question and (hopefully) directly to the message or item that is currently asking for your attention. Finally, the "None" option is for those who want to see notifications on the lock screen or in Notifications Center, but who don't otherwise want to be interrupted by that particular app.

An example of a banner-style notification at the top of the screen that will go away if I don't tap on it within a few seconds.

The last two settings are obvious: do you want badges on your app icons showing the number of unread items? (No, thankyouverymuch.) Do you want to see these on your lock screen? Depending on the app and on your personal preferences, you may choose to have some of these show up and others not—our only wish is that Apple would somehow make it possible for us to universally turn on or off a certain type of notification (such as no more wire hangers badges, ever!)

Notifications Center

The Notifications Center is where you'll be able to find all your notifications. From anywhere within the OS or even various apps (they don't have to be Apple apps, either), you can tap and then pull down from the top of the screen in order to see what needs your attention. In the above example, I have the weather turned on, plus a new iMessage, an appointment on my calendar for later in the day, and two undoubtedly losing moves to be made in Words with Friends.

Tapping on any particular notification will take you directly to that item inside of its related app, e.g., tapping on a calendar appointment will take you to the calendar, tapping on the Words with Friends moves will take you to that game, tapping on a Twitter message will take you to a particular message within a Twitter app. The items that can be dismissed—that is, those not calendar items or the weather—will remain until you tap the X to clear out the notifications for that category. Because of this, I pick and choose what shows up in my Notifications Center screen (and also my lock screen) very carefully; I don't really need to see that 25 new people sent me @replies on Twitter, but I would like to see when I have a missed call or voicemail, especially since I turned the badges for those apps off in the settings.

Generally speaking, Notifications Center has worked great for me, but I have run into a problem with notifications from some (admittedly not very important) apps. One is Words with Friends—though the notifications do seem to show up for me occasionally, they don't always. Many days, I can open up my Words with Friends app to see that several friends are waiting on moves from me, but the alerts won't be in my Notification Center despite the settings clearly stating that they should be. It's not obvious to me whether this is a communication problem between specific apps and the OS, as this doesn't seem to happen for the majority of the other notifications that I have set up (and never with Apple apps).

Those familiar with Android can recognize immediately the visual similarities here; in fact, some of you have been falling all over yourselves to tell us about it ever since Steve Jobs showed off iOS 5 notifications during the 2011 WWDC keynote. Certainly, Notification Center in iOS 5 looks and acts much the same as you might expect to see on a modern Android device, and that's apparently because it's a design that works well. I rarely have personal qualms about any one company mimicking the basic designs of another, but Apple will probably want to keep an eye out for the patent lawyers on this one, as the lawyers are a feisty bunch nowadays.

Jacqui Cheng
Jacqui is an Editor at Large at Ars Technica, where she has spent the last eight years writing about Apple culture, gadgets, social networking, privacy, and more. Emailjacqui@arstechnica.com//Twitter@eJacqui

2 things I really want to be able to do. Transfer the purchase of an app from one iTunes account to another. Useful when I mistakenly purchase an app logged in as my wife.

Also, remove a purchased app from my account. I may have downloaded and installed some crapware app 2 years ago but now it shows up in my list of purchased apps forever. Allow me to remove them if I so choose.

But whether you're an iOS user or an Android fan, it's hard to argue that iOS 5 isn't a major upgrade, at least to the consumer features of the operating system.

It definately is a major upgrade for iPhones, and my wife will be happy that she finally has lockscreen notifications, but it is really still playing catchup to Android at this point, and that is another thing that is hard to argue against. Android 4 will be raising the bar even higher, and with Apple's usual release timeframe, the iPhone will be behind the ball for the foreseeable future. Plus, still no widgets???

Android jokes in the article aside, the features they brought over do make it easier for people who like Android to switch to iOS devices, which is relevant. Notifications were one of the things that always drove me crazy about iOS (as an Android user), so that's a major hurdle they just removed from me switching platforms.

"After that, your device will sync music, photos, movies, etc. every time it's on the same WiFi network as the computer (but only when plugged into power). That latter point might prove an annoyance for some—what's the purpose of "wireless" sync when you still have to plug something in somewhere?"

Not entirely correct. Apple wasn't very specific on this one. Once you've wired for the last time and selected to allow wi-fi sync, you only need to be connected to power IF you want it to automatically sync.

For example, I've always had that option off (sync automatically when connected). With the settings as such, you will see you iDevice pop up in iTunes as long as you're on the same wi-fi network, plugged in or not. I added an album to my iPhone with it in my pocket. You just have to click the 'sync' button yourself.

But whether you're an iOS user or an Android fan, it's hard to argue that iOS 5 isn't a major upgrade, at least to the consumer features of the operating system.

It definately is a major upgrade for iPhones, and my wife will be happy that she finally has lockscreen notifications, but it is really still playing catchup to Android at this point, and that is another thing that is hard to argue against. Android 4 will be raising the bar even higher, and with Apple's usual release timeframe, the iPhone will be behind the ball for the foreseeable future. Plus, still no widgets???

The Words with Friends issue is probably the app's fault- I've had mine miss notifications on iOS 4. And plugging in for wireless sync makes sense- what if it runs out of battery during a sync, naffs it up- and the you only find out next time you take out your phone to use it?

I didn't see if this was mentioned or not, but were delta updates introduced?

Will there be ~10MB updates instead of ~400MB updates after this?

(I remember hearing about this at some point, but hopefully it wasn't just for Lion)

Delta updates should be available from here on out, at least for point upgrades. They were available for several of the betas and (mostly) worked without issue. But it's always a good idea to have a backup available before hitting that update button in Settings.app.

One thing that keeps me on Android for now is the tight integration with Gmail, Google Talk, Voice, and to a lesser extent, Navigation. I remember having native GTalk on my old Palm Pre as well so I really missed it when I got an iPad. That's been my "iMessage"-type solution for the past several years now. Messages and video chats that span my phone and computer and don't use up text messages or have character limits. I've found Gmail easy enough to integrate via the Exchange protocol but the support for shared Gmail calendars doesn't seem to be there unless I'm missing something. I haven't kept up with Voice on iOS since I don't use it on my iPad but I will be interested to see if it will still integrate with Sprint on their version of the iPhone 4S. Nav...well I guess that requires a 3rd party app since I don't believe it's available for iOS. I also doubt the free Sprint Navigation (Telenav) will be included on a Sprint iPhone since they tend not to allow any carrier software that I know of.

My girlfriend is getting a 4S on Sprint within the next week or so and I will have to keep an eye on how it works. If it seems like I can get over the things I am missing on iOS 4 on the iPad I may have to consider the 4S if Sprint drags their feet on any new Nexus Prime, etc.

I didn't see if this was mentioned or not, but were delta updates introduced?

Will there be ~10MB updates instead of ~400MB updates after this?

(I remember hearing about this at some point, but hopefully it wasn't just for Lion)

Delta updates should be available from here on out, at least for point upgrades. They were available for several of the betas and (mostly) worked without issue. But it's always a good idea to have a backup available before hitting that update button in Settings.app.

Thanks for the info!

I'm very update cautious... possibly too much so. For example, no "tainted" files from iOS 4 will be getting to my new iOS 5 on any iDevice I have. Everything gets a fresh start without a restore from backup. Angry Birds 3 starred levels be damned.

"After that, your device will sync music, photos, movies, etc. every time it's on the same WiFi network as the computer (but only when plugged into power). That latter point might prove an annoyance for some—what's the purpose of "wireless" sync when you still have to plug something in somewhere?"

Not entirely correct. Apple wasn't very specific on this one. Once you've wired for the last time and selected to allow wi-fi sync, you only need to be connected to power IF you want it to automatically sync.

For example, I've always had that option off (sync automatically when connected). With the settings as such, you will see you iDevice pop up in iTunes as long as you're on the same wi-fi network, plugged in or not. I added an album to my iPhone with it in my pocket. You just have to click the 'sync' button yourself.

Thanks. I corrected the wording a bit and added an update with the information you provided. Much appreciated.

Really? I think it shows just how important it is for every smartphone OS manufacturer to get onboard and destroy SMS from orbit. I wish Apple would open it up so that third parties could produce "iMessages" compatible messaging apps for Android and Windows Mobile.

I didn't see if this was mentioned or not, but were delta updates introduced?

Will there be ~10MB updates instead of ~400MB updates after this?

(I remember hearing about this at some point, but hopefully it wasn't just for Lion)

Delta updates should be available from here on out, at least for point upgrades. They were available for several of the betas and (mostly) worked without issue. But it's always a good idea to have a backup available before hitting that update button in Settings.app.

Thanks for the info!

I'm very update cautious... possibly too much so. For example, no "tainted" files from iOS 4 will be getting to my new iOS 5 on any iDevice I have. Everything gets a fresh start without a restore from backup. Angry Birds 3 starred levels be damned.

I actually used a combination of iPhone Backup Extractor and iExplorer to restore app settings (and game saves) when I installed the iOS5 GM as a new device. It can be a little time consuming (depending on how many apps are installed) but saved "valuable" data like my Angry Birds, Cut the Rope, and Infinity Blade game states.

I've found Gmail easy enough to integrate via the Exchange protocol but the support for shared Gmail calendars doesn't seem to be there unless I'm missing something.

Fair points on everything else; but integrating Google calendars via CalDav on the iPhone is easy. I have my GMail account set up as IMAP + CalDav because I don't like some of the limitations of ActiveSync (i.e. not being able to change your reply from address.)

Any idea how much data the location or geofencing will consume in a typical day out in the world? I've got a limited data plan but it still sounds like a useful reminder basis if the 3G data consumption is low enough.

On wireless syncing, if you stay connected to power (charging your phone) does the phone resync frequently or only once a day? I ask because I use a Mophie battery case and my phone thinks it is charging just about constantly (until the case battery is drained). I don't want the phone to drain itself excessively just because it thinks it is plugged it.

I had a few problems initially with my Ford Sync system and GM 5.0 with audio drop outs, but after a day or two it seems like they've gone away. Which sucks because I want to recreate it so I can submit my logs to Apple for them to look at.

I didn't see if this was mentioned or not, but were delta updates introduced?

Will there be ~10MB updates instead of ~400MB updates after this?

(I remember hearing about this at some point, but hopefully it wasn't just for Lion)

Delta updates should be available from here on out, at least for point upgrades. They were available for several of the betas and (mostly) worked without issue. But it's always a good idea to have a backup available before hitting that update button in Settings.app.

Thanks for the info!

I'm very update cautious... possibly too much so. For example, no "tainted" files from iOS 4 will be getting to my new iOS 5 on any iDevice I have. Everything gets a fresh start without a restore from backup. Angry Birds 3 starred levels be damned.

I actually used a combination of iPhone Backup Extractor and iExplorer to restore app settings (and game saves) when I installed the iOS5 GM as a new device. It can be a little time consuming (depending on how many apps are installed) but saved "valuable" data like my Angry Birds, Cut the Rope, and Infinity Blade game states.

After doing this for so long on my Mac, I can find all of my data and pretty much manually restore everything.

As for the iOS, I had pretty much given up hope on my apps beyond jailbreaking which was a pain. However, there is one game on my iPad that I'd be more than willing to learn this manual method to make it a habit (Avadon: The Black Fortress). Thanks for the info! Today's gonna be a good day when I get home.